AD1: How far do you agree that the New Deal brought about significant improvement in the lives of racial minorities and women?

The New Deal had a limited impact on improving the lvies of women.

EVIDENCE: As a rule, men always came first in New Deal policies on unemployment and working conditions. The federally funded civilian Conservation Corps found work for 2.5m young men. Black women benefited even less as they were edged out of even the worst jobs and were paid nearly 2/3 less than a white man. COMPARE: Works Projects Administration 1935 employed 460,000 women at its peak in 1936 however 25% of the National Recovery Administration's wage codes set minimum wages for women at a rate lower than men for the same work; showing the impact was limited.

The New Deal had improved the lives of women to a lesser extent.

EVIDENCE: New Deal Aid for Families with Dependent Children provided some of the poorest families with benefits. In 1931, the NY set up the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration which was federally funded and gave $234m in aid to starving families over the next 7 years. Fair Labor Relations Act which guaranteed worker rights to organize led to 800,000 women joining unions by the end of the late 1930s and the Fair Labor Standards Act set maximum hours and minimum wages. By 1936, Eleanor Roosevelt had opened 36 women work camps which employed 5,000 women, e.g. Camp Tera where women were trained with various working skills. COMPARE: Much of the changes to women's employment only affected those outside of domestic and clerical roles, meaning that most women did not benefit as this was where the highest concentration of women workers were.

The New Deal had a limtied impact on improving the lives of racial minorities.

EVIDENCE: New Deal agencies adopted a supposedly 'colour blind' approach to applicants of aid and claimed to give assistance based on 'merit'. However, often black people were moved off of projects to make space for white families and thus groups such as the Northern Communists had to demand the equal distribution of funds across all people. As a result black people were forced to organise their own relief efforts through organisations such as church groups, showing that New Deal policies had failed to support them. Agricultural reforms through the AAA led 100,000 black farmers to lose their jobs due to a lack of available work in the South, and black farmers were further affected through the security provision which did not cover those in agriculture and domestic roles- where 90% of workers were black. Although Roosevelt did appoint some black advisors, the majority of his supporters were against equal rights and so he often restricted the number of black people on projects if a donator requested this. COMPARE: Roosevelt appointed some black advisers who helped to change some New Deal policies such as the NRA who eventually set the minimum wage for black and white people at the same rate. Nonetheless this was only achieved after black officials in govt. had protested against the previous policy. Also, over half a million black people were fired in order to open jobs for white workers, thus showing the New Deal hadn't a significant impact on the livelihoods of black minorities.

The New Deal had improved the lives of racial minorities to a lesser extent.

EVIDENCE: The Resettlement Administration (a New Deal agency), was set up with Executive Order 7027 and resettled low income families into new homes and loaned them money in May 1935. This gave loans to 3,400 black farmers. Also, some New Deal measures did help Black Americans because of their situation- 1/3 of low income housing built had black tenants, as many of the poorest people eligible for this housing were black. The Indian Reorganization Act 1934 which was known as the 'Indian New Deal' returned more than 20m acres of land to Native American tribes in the following years. COMPARE: The Indian New Deal did not cover Tribes in Hawaii, and Alaska and Oklahoma did not benefit until 1936. The Resettlement Administration scheme helped on 3,400 out of 200,000 black farmers so this impact was no so significant, and in 1939 conditions for many were so bad that 2m signed a petition asking for federal aid to move to Africa.

Argument

to a greater extent the New Deal did not bring about significant improvements in the lives of racial minorities and women as much of the agencies directed towards improving livelihoods such as the NRA and AA only had a limited impact on the assistance it provided to women and racial minorities as they frequently removed these applicants in order to provide for white men.